Archive for February, 2011

Enharmonic notes are simply notes that have more than one name. Just as you might be known by not only your given name, but also by your nickname, so notes can have more than one name. The same is true for enharmonic chords — they can be known by multiple names as well. For example, the Db major chord sounds exactly the same as the C# major chord, but looks different on printed music, and has two different names: C# major and Db major.

The chord progressions in songs often follow the circle of keys, usually to the right. (By the way, the circle of keys is often called the Circle of 5ths or the Circle of 4ths, but it’s the same thing — just depends on whether you move to the right or to the left on the circle). Notice that the flat keys are on the right hand side of the circle, while the sharp keys are on the left hand side of the circle. Watch this short piano video and you’ll understand:

One of the easiest techniques you can use in your left hand in 3/4 time is the walkup. Any time the chord progression is up a perfect 4th (like C up to F, or F up to Bb, etc.) you can “walkup” in octaves in your left hand. But be sure to mix in other techniques — any single technique when taken to extreme gets boring, so mix it up.

As you no doubt know, there are 12 possible major chords because there are 12 different piano keys on which you can build those chords. (There can be more than 12 names for those 12 chords, of course, because we can call the same chord two names, such as Db or C# — we’ll do a video on enharmonic chords another time). Once you know those 12 major chords, it’s a snap to learn the minor chords, because all you do is lower the 3rd of the major chord one-half step. For lots of good stuff like this, come on over to http://www.facebook.com/pianochords and sign up for our free newsletter on piano chords and chord progressions as well as grab the Major-Minor Chord Chart.

Quite often we don’t take the time to analyze the music we play, but if we did we would often find it much easier to understand than we would otherwise think in terms of chord progressions and musical form. Take a familiar tune such as Greensleeves and break it down to its basic components and we find a simple chord progression that repeats in four measure increments, then a contrasting section of four measures, followed by 4 measures that kind of combines the first section with the release – a very logical musical form. Watch this short piano lesson video then apply it to other songs!